LGBT people should not settle for "conditional freedom"

The 3rd Annual State of Black Gay America Summit was held in Atlanta on September 5. The summit, focused on developing an agenda for the Black LGBT community, was held as part of Atlanta Black Pride. Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, presiding bishop of Refuge Ministries/The Fellowship and founder of The City of Refuge Community Church UCC in San Francisco, delivered the keynote address.

At the summit Rev. Dr. Flunder urged the LGBT community to not accept "conditional freedom" saying

Some people have said why don't we settle for unions [rather than full marriage equality], but I call this conditional marriage. And I'm not in favor of accepting conditional freedom. We have settled for too little for too long. Why do we settle? It is ingrained in us that we are second-class citizens.

That's a message that not on Black LGBT people, but all LGBT people should take to heart.

After the jump, Rev. Dr. Flunders speech at the 2009 Creating Change Conference.

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